The True Fight in Education is the Fight for Liberation
By Rashaida Melvin
We are fighting the wrong battle.
All too often schools are fighting students of color and students from marginalized communities on uniform compliance, engagement, attendance, and behavior, which ends up causing harm to students and their learning. What if, instead, we shifted our fight to working alongside students to promote liberation through learning?
Unfortunately, these students are constantly playing “catch up” because of opportunities denied to them due to factors such as institutional racism and a lack of culturally relevant pedagogy.
So what is needed to turn this statement around in favor of our nation’s most vulnerable students? Our schools must become institutions of liberation. We have to shift our thinking that a school is where students learn a regimented curriculum, one that centers whiteness or dominant culture, and one where students engage passively. Instead, our students deserve an educational experience where they learn rigorous, grade level, and affirming content. Alongside this academic learning, our students must also learn how to be liberated.
When students are liberated, the focus of a school completely shifts.
Here are the six shifts to promote liberatory education:
Instead of teachers coming into schools with a savior mentality, the focus must shift to having a high level of self-awareness.
Instead of a focus on student compliance, the focus shifts to building relationships with and between students.
Instead of lecturing students, the focus shifts to listening to the specific and individual needs of each student.
Instead of teaching to just a few students who always raise their hands, the focus shifts to engaging every student through interactive content and activities.
Instead of trying to force students to assimilate to whiteness or the “model” student, the focus shifts to teaching and appreciating student agency.
Instead of teachers surrendering to burnout, we must shift to supporting teachers in self-advocating for healthy boundaries. Simultaneously, instead of expecting students to surrender to every directive given by an adult, we have to shift our focus to supporting students in self-advocacy of (and adults listening to) their needs.
I know what you are probably thinking, “Can this really happen?”
Yes, it can. But it won’t be easy.
This can only be done with careful and intentional on-going support and coaching of our teachers. Just hosting a one-time session on unpacking bias or incorporating a new strategy into the classroom isn’t enough. These things may be pieces of the work, but it’s not a one-and-done process. The work of liberatory education must be sustained over time.
To have this type of transformational learning experience, our teachers will have to embody these liberatory practices themselves so that they can model and teach these liberatory practices to students.
If we want to have a true overhaul and rebuild our educational system, let’s build it the right way. Let’s build it with the tools and structures that our students need to be successful both while they are in and also once they move on from our academic institutions. Let’s build it with our students. Let’s build an educational system where our most vulnerable students are seen, affirmed, and most importantly, liberated from the shackles of an oppressive education system.
Rashaida Melvin started her career teaching middle school science in rural North Carolina through Teach for America. After earning a Master’s degree in education and helping to found a school, Rashaida transitioned to graduate school a second time and earned a Masters in School Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Soon after leaving Harvard, Rashaida began her journey as an Assistant Principal in Washington, DC. With a love for coaching teachers, Rashaida went on to start an educator diversity training course through Embracing Equity and then began to provide virtual instructional coaching for teachers and leaders across the country through EdConnective. Rashaida owns her own dance fitness business and is currently coaching teachers as a Satellite Program Director at a national nonprofit organization, Build.org.
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